


The Sky Is Everywhere

by orphan_account



Category: Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
Genre: Bedrooms, Difficult Decisions, Established Relationship, Eyes, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Forbidden Love, Gift Giving, Guitars, Humanity's Strongest, Identity Issues, Masks, Musical Instruments, Secret Identity, Secret Relationship, Sisters, Souls, Sunsets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-26 19:47:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18289022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Sariatu can't ignore or deny that her heart belongs to another place. She has to choose. Life in Heaven isn't a life. Have they ever been her family? To die on Earth would not be death but privilege.





	The Sky Is Everywhere

~Through teary eyes, they perceive eventide. Its magnificent blue and violet rays their hourglass. Sariatu breathes in what will be the final cool breeze she'll feel before her departure. She runs her right hand through the velvety grass of the hill of which she and Hanzo adore to sit atop. And caresses his face in her left hand whilst staring into his soul with a heavy heart before getting up to leave. 

 _"Sari, wait!"_ Hanzo startlingly shouts. 

"What?"

"I want you to have this!" He declares, handing her his most prized possession. 

"Your shamisen?"

~" _Our_ shamisen. I want you to have it as something to remember me by while you're up there." Hanzo finishes as Sariatu, strapping their shamisen onto her shoulder, begins to play incoherent notes. This sparks laughter from the both of them. Laughter just one on the infinite list of things she would've never known. 

~At the time of her arrival from Earth, there's always a semblance of fear that Karasu, Washi, or Raiden will question her whereabouts. Sariatu distracts herself from these thoughts by reminiscing the day she had with Hanzo. On Earth, everyone is so full of life, bustling with emotions. But here in this lonely, desolate palace, Sariatu is the only who has feelings. Karasu and Washi vehemently accept their statuses as Raiden's obedient slaves.

~Sariatu can't ignore or deny that her heart belongs to another place. She has to choose. Life in Heaven isn't a life. Have they ever been her family? To die on Earth would not be death but privilege.  

~She looks around for a hiding place to put she and Hanzo's shamisen. Ultimately settling on a large, golden, shining chest of which she keeps all of the things she's received from him: little blue and orange origami birds, childlike drawings of the sky, moon, and stars, and now this new keepsake she'll forever cherish. 

~Sariatu goes into her closet and retrieves her cape, uniform, hat, and mask. She then sits at her vanity and begins to prepare for yet another night of massacring the innocents. She stops to stare at the mask - - the mask no longer feels like an extension of herself but a prison. The mask shields her from empathy. The mask justifies mercilessness because she can't look into the eyes of her victims. 

~Having brought the mask halfway up-to her face, Sariatu has to then put it down. Too awestruck by the authentic gaze of her own humanity in her reflection to continue. When she takes the form of a monster with colorless, textureless, featureless skin, no body temperature or even a soul to speak of, her eyes are still the same. Staring into them is staring into Hanzo's. She takes their shamisen out of the golden, shining chest and begins to quietly intone their ballad:

_Sono yoru issho ni aruita watashitachi_

_onaji tenpo de aruite ite, nagai hanashi_

_o shite ita watashitachi sono yoru,_

_watashitachi wa jojoni furuete,_

_watashitachi no furui kōkai o_

_nokoshimashita sono yoru,_

_michinimayotta watashi wa anata no_

_fuan'na kokoro o mosaku shimashita_

_sono yoru, kuroi yami ni ōwa rete_

_hakkiri mienakatta watashi wa anata_

_no kasunde iru kao o shinpai shite_

_imasen anata no kao no hyōjō ni_

_kankei naku watashi wa tada anata to_

_issho ni iru koto wa dekimasen_

_shiritakunai sono yoru, kuroi_

_kurayaminonakade gochagocha shita_

_hakkiri kikoenakatta watashi wa anata_

_no sōzōshī kotoba ni tsuite shinpai_

_shite imasen anata ga nani o itte mo_

_watashi wa anata to dōkyo dekinai_

_shiritakunai tamani wa watashitachi ni_

_tsuite kangaeru sono yoru no yō ni_

_narande aruita watashitachi sonotoki_

_no yō ni, watashi wa itsumo no yō ni,_

_watashi wa anata no kokoro ni tsuite shinpai shite imasen._

~Just as Sariatu finishes, there's a knock on the door. " _Sister, it's time!"_ She hears Karasu and Washi's voices announce in unison. She hastily covers her face with the noh mask and  secures it. Then hovers out of her bedroom door. 

* * *

~During aurora, Sariatu once again sits at her vanity. She now prepares to return to Hanzo. The first thing she does is remove her mask. She's made her decision, there's no reason to fear her own nature. Untying her hair, allowing it flow freely and clothing in her junihitoe, she begins to feel like her real self, human. 

~"Good morning, Sariatu." Greets Hanzo enthusiastically after opening the front door of his fortress, The Beetle Clan Castle, his home. "Good morning, Hanzo. I've made an important decision." Sariatu tells him.

"You have?"

"Yes. I'm going to stay here on Earth, with you." Sariatu says, in confidence. 

_"Forever?!"_

~ _"Yes, always and forever!"_ She proudly assures him as he sweeps her off her feet and spins her around in a state of complete dazing ecstasy. _"But not so fast. As you already know, we have to hide from the night. It's not a question of if but when they'll find us."_

_"... Who says they'll find us?"_

_"Hanzo, if not us, then who?_ _I am honest, truthful and full of more love for you than you can ever understand."_

_~"No, I understand where you're coming from. **The sky is everywhere.** But right now, it’s time for us to do something. To all this pain, it’s too much to do nothing. It's time for us to do something."_

**Author's Note:**

> The final line is meant to mark the moment that Hanzo decided to do his many revolts against Raiden [The Moon King] which is implied by the implication that Hanzo was already prepared to go on his quest to find the armor before he [Raiden] found them. - Anonymous


End file.
